Missing Dog, Found
by siberianknight
Summary: OneShot, A.U. KakashixIruka Kakashi's dog, Pakkun has run off, Kakashi finds himself attracted to the man who found him.


_Author's Note:_ This is a one-shot. Very simple, and innocent 

Warnings: You might get a few cavities. 

**Status:** COMPLETE 

Kakashi was in a panic. His pug, Pakkun, was missing. He had looked everywhere for his beloved pet, but sadly couldn't find him anywhere. Kakashi had left for a conference in another city, and had hired the kid down the hall in his apartment to keep an eye on Pakkun. 

"Now, Naruto, I want you to check in on him every four hours. Just to make sure he has enough water, and hasn't destroyed my apartment." 

Naruto had saluted his friend. "Yes sir! Every four hours." 

Kakashi's subconscious had warned him that Naruto wasn't going to do as good a job as he had asked him to do. It wasn't the young teen's fault, after all the boy _was_ only fifteen and had things other than someone else's dog to be concerned about. Though, that was no excuse to be negligent of duties one was given. 

On the day which Kakashi returned home, Naruto had not wanted to let him back into his apartment. "Naruto ..." Kakashi had began dangerously, but the tears which began to well up in the boy's eyes had caused him to change his tone. "What is it?" 

"Well ... you see ... it's just -- I swear I was watching him! I was! I took him out for some fresh air and all of a sudden he picked up this scent or something and took off!" 

Puzzled, Kakashi pushed past Naruto into his small three room apartment. "Pakkun! Pakkun! Where are you boy?" He hunted frantically from room to room looking for the small brown dog. 

Naruto stood out in the hallway, a puddle of tears. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei. I am." He sniffed loudly, and ran his bare arm across the bottom of his runny nose. 

Kakashi took a deep breath to steady himself. There was no use yelling at him. After all, it wasn't as if he had purposely allowed Pakkun to run away. Kakashi walked up to Naruto, and placed his hand on the boy's shaking shoulder. "It's okay. Will you help me look for him?" 

Naruto perked up instantly. He nodded his head in agreement, a bright smile soon replaced the tears which stained his round cheeks. "I'll go see if Sasuke will help." 

"Hm. Yes, and go and see if you can get some of your other friends to help as well." With those instructions, Naruto ran off in the direction of the stairs. "I suppose I'll start in the park across the street." Kakashi wearily walked toward the same set of stairs which Naruto had just finished sprinting down. 

Iruka was sitting on a bench in the park near the university. He loved being there; he would sit for hours reading a book or watching the students mill around enjoying their youth. He was a professor at the university. Iruka would have liked to say that everything was going well for him, but the truth was ... he was lonely. He especially felt it whenever he would watch the couples walk hand in hand, or kiss. All he wanted was someone to love and love him in return. It was on this bright sunny day, that Iruka's life would take a sudden turn ... for good or bad, that was uncertain. 

Iruka was gazing at a young couple seated on a blanket under a large elm. They were very close together and their hands were linked. A sharp pain of loneliness flooded Iruka's heart. "It's not fair." He mumbled to himself. His gaze shifted to his feet, where he saw a small dog seated and looking up at him. "Hi little one. Where's your owner?" Iruka reached down and allowed the dog to sniff his hand. 

Iruka noticed a collar which had an I.D. tag, he shifted it around so that he could read it. "'Pakkun.' So that's your name, huh?" He smiled down at Pakkun, and scratched his head. "I guess we need to find out who you belong to." Iruka stood and began walking away from the bench, Pakkun followed. 

The two walked over to Iruka's apartment building. Once inside his apartment, Iruka called the animal shelter. There were no reports of a missing dog named Pakkun. "Hmm... I wonder what I should do. Would you like to stay here? I can put an ad out in the paper saying that I found you." Pakkun barked happily, and Iruka decided to keep him instead of taking him to animal control. 

"I'm so sorry Kakashi-sensei. I wish we could have helped you to find Pakkun." Sasuke frowned slightly as he looked upon Kakashi, who was sitting on his couch looking very dejected. 

"It's okay guys. Thank you for all your help. I guess it just wasn't meant for me to find him." 

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged worried looks, and then turned slowly to leave. Kakashi was heartbroken. He loved Pakkun as if he was his own child. Sure he knew that Pakkun was going to die long before he would, but they were still close. 

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke had looked for two full weeks before finally giving up. Now, Kakashi had lost all hope . He knew without a doubt that Pakkun was gone. He leaned back and rested his head on the back of the couch. His stomach broke the silence of the room ... he was hungry. 

Kakashi walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl and the cereal out of the cabinet. He set the bowl down, filled it with cereal, and then milk. As he lifted the bowl, an ad in the paper caught his eye. He had thrown the paper down on the counter this morning after quickly skimming it for found dog ads. He had apparently missed this one. 

_One brown pug with beige coloring around snout. Collar states name as Pakkun. Please contact, Umino Iruka, MWU, for more information._

Kakashi slammed his bowl of cereal down on the counter causing milk and Cheerios to fly everywhere. He ran out the door and down to the street to catch a taxi. The university was a good twelve blocks from where he lived and he was amazed that Pakkun had made it that far. 

The taxi pulled up outside of the Social Sciences building. Kakashi threw the money he owned at the driver and ran up through the front entrance. Iruka's office was on the fourth floor. Kakashi dashed up the stairs and paused outside the door to Umino-sensei's room. He fought to catch his breath so that he didn't look like a wild man. Not that the patch over his left eye helped him look normal, but a panting man with wild hair and a patch might scare the other man. 

After a deep breath, and a quick hair combing with his hand, Kakashi entered Iruka's office. The young man sitting behind the desk, was not what he had expected. Truth be told, Kakashi wasn't quite certain what he had expected. Iruka looked up as the door opened. His round cheeks held a healthy glow as he smiled brightly at the man in the doorway. "May I help you?" 

"Professor Umino?" 

"Yes. And you are?" Soft brown eyes glowed at Kakashi awaiting his introduction. 

"I'm Hatake Kakashi. I'm the owner of Pakkun." 

"Oh! That's wonderful. I mean ... I'll be sad to see him go, but since he's yours, I'll gladly part with him." 

Kakashi was slightly surprised by the other man's trusting nature. "You want proof -- right? I mean, you don't know that I didn't just see that ad in the paper and came to steal the dog." 

"Oh ... yeah, you're right. Do you have a picture or something?" 

Kakashi pulled out his wallet. He unfurled the multitude of pictures which he kept within the worn out leather wallet. All of the pictures, except for two, were of him and Pakkun. Kakashi chuckled, a little embarrassed. "I think this is proof enough." 

Iruka gazed at the photos. The two which were not of Kakashi and his dog, were of three young kids. "Are they yours?" 

"Huh?" Kakashi looked at the younger man, very puzzled by his question. "Are what mine?" 

"The kids." Iruka laughed lightly at the other man's confusion. The look on his face was quite charming. In fact, Iruka was starting to feel an odd tingly sensation in the pit of his stomach. 

"No. They're my students. I'm a high school literature teacher. This one, Naruto, lives in my apartment building." Kakashi pointed out the blond spiky haired kid with the goofy grin plastered on his innocent face. 

"Well, they look like good kids." 

"They can be. They can also be a handful." 

"Why don't you have a seat, Hatake-san." 

"Kakashi." Kakashi sat, and the two men began to talk about anything and everything. They discovered that they had some differing view points, but they were interested in finding out how the other felt about the different perspectives. Before long, the sun was beginning to set. 

"Wow, look at the time." Iruka remarked as he gazed at the ancient clock hanging on the wall. "I suppose I should take you to get Pakkun." Even though, that was the last thing that Iruka wanted to do. He wanted to spend more time with Kakashi. In truth, he never wanted this night to end. 

"I'm actually hungry. There's a nice Italian restaurant close by, would you like to join me for dinner? It's the least I could do for your kindness in taking care of Pakkun." Kakashi held his breath as he waited for Iruka to give his answer. He wanted him to say yes; the time they had spent talking was one of the best moments of his life. 

"Sure." 

The Italian restaurant was dimly lit and held a romantic atmosphere. The two men sat heads somewhat close, continuing their conversations from before. However, dinner was over and Iruka had to take Kakashi to his apartment to hand over Pakkun. 

Kakashi was surprised by the neatness of the the apartment. After all, Iruka's office had been messy, so it was a shock to see everything in it's place. Iruka turned and smiled at Kakashi. "I'm sure you're wondering why my apartment's clean, but my office isn't." 

Kakashi grinned, this guy could read him pretty well -- not many could do that. "Yeah, I was actually." 

"I spend more time at my office than I do here." Pakkun trotted out of the bedroom as Iruka and Kakashi talked. He sat near Iruka's feet and gazed up at the two, a happy expression upon his round face. 

"Ah! Pakkun!" Kakashi bent down and spread his arms for Pakkun to run into. Pakkun's head was scratched as he sniffed his owner's face. "I missed you so much boy." Kakashi stood with Pakkun in his arms. "I'm very grateful for you care, and for the fact that you put the ad in the paper." 

"It's what any nice person would do." Iruka shrugged, desperately trying to hide the fact he was sad that Kakashi was leaving. 

"Well, we should go now ..." Kakashi turned and walked to the door. He smiled once over his shoulder, and then left. Iruka was alone again. 

"Maybe I should get a dog." He mused as he plopped down onto the couch. 

A week went by, and Kakashi often found himself thinking about Iruka. He was tempted more than once to pick up the phone and call the man, but then he was unsure how Iruka would feel about that. After all, he may be straight ... what was he thinking? Kakashi was straight too ... right? This was a subject which he had never really thought about. He was attracted to girls, but none of the ones he had dated, had ever felt right. So it was possible that despite the fact that Kakashi had always been straight, maybe the one he was meant to be with wasn't what he had expected. 

"This makes my head hurt. Pakkun, is it possible to be straight and then fall in love with someone the same sex as you?" Pakkun barked happily. "Why am I asking you ... it's not like you can help me any." 

Pakkun jumped down off the couch and trotted over to the door, where he sat and began to paw, letting Kakashi know he wanted out. Kakashi walked over to his dog and looked down at him. "Do you want out?" A whimper was his answer. Kakashi sighed and unlocked the door, as he turned to get Pakkun's leash, the smart pug opened up the door and fled outside. 

Kakashi was so stunned by what happened, it took him a few moments to follow. He raced after Pakkun; every time he gained ground on the dog, Pakkun managed to escape. 

After chasing his dog for ten blocks, Kakashi finally caught up with Pakkun. They were standing outside of Iruka's apartment building, and Iruka was coming out through the entrance. 

As Iruka walked down the stairs he was surprised to spot Kakashi and Pakkun. Kakashi was standing with a confused look upon his face. "Kakashi? What are you doing here?" 

"I--well, Pakkun ran off, and I followed." Suddenly Kakashi felt a little uneasy. It had been fine before, because he didn't know he had feelings for Iruka, but now ... it was different. 

"Oh. Well, I was just going to get dinner." 

"I--well, I caught Pakkun, so I guess we'll be going." Kakashi bent down to pick up his dog, but Pakkun was quicker than him. He ran over to Iruka and sat down on Iruka's feet. 

"What's this?" Iruka looked down at the dog who gazed up at him. 

"What the hell are you doing, Pakkun. Come on -- let's go home." Kakashi sighed heavily. He didn't know what had gotten into Pakkun; he was acting so strangely. Pakkun barked at Kakashi, and scooted closer to Iruka. "I'm sorry Iruka, he's never acted like this before." 

"It's okay. Pakkun, go to Kakashi, you two need to get home so you can eat." Another persistent bark emanated from the small dog. 

"Come on Pakkun, let's go." Pakkun growled this time. Kakashi scratched his head in confusion. Pakkun was behaving as if there was something he was trying to tell Kakashi, but his owner had no clue what it was that he was trying to say. 

Frustrated, Pakkun walked over to Kakashi and grabbed ahold of his pant leg. He tugged as hard as he could, trying to pull him over to Iruka, who was chuckling. Kakashi gave in and walked as far as Pakkun pulled on his pant leg. He soon found himself standing very close to Iruka. Dark brown eyes gazed into dark brown eyes. 

Iruka laughed nervously. He could feel his heart pounding, threatening to burst from the closeness of Kakashi. "Why do you think he did that?" 

"I--I don't know." Kakashi memorized every inch of Iruka's face; he came to one conclusion, he was attracted to this man. He took a deep breath before asking what had been on his mind for a week now. "Would you like to go out on a date with me?" 

Iruka's eyes widened in surprise. This was the last thing he had expected, yet he had been dreaming for a week of Kakashi asking him out. A joyous grin spread across his face. "Yes I would. Actually right now is good, I've got food -- I can cook." 

"I'd like that." Kakashi smiled at Iruka, who then turned and walked back into his apartment building. Pakkun followed Kakashi, his tail wagging happily. He had done his job, now it was up to his owner to make sure that he didn't become lonely again. 


End file.
